January 22, 2019

Recently I went to avarekalu mela 2019 , food festival in V V puram, food street. I tasted avarekalu dosa / avarebele dosa for the first time. In fact, I went to the mela just to taste this dosa recipe. In Karnataka, Avarekai / Avarekalu (Hyacinth beans in English, Mochai in Tamil, Surti papdi lilva in Hindi), a variety of broad beans is available during winter season in local markets. It is used in varieties of breakfast, dinner recipes, traditional sweets and snacks as a healthy addition. Variety of avarekalu recipes like ragi roti, avarekai idli, avarekalu dosa, usli, kodubele, uppittu, masala vada, rice bath, shavige, ragi mudde and much more are served as main dishes in the festival with hitikida bele saru (pressed field beans gravy) as side dish. Avarebele dosa was so good. I loved it very much👍 . This dosa recipe and avarekalu akki roti was attracting the crowd in the festival. Avarebele dosa is nothing but our traditional sponge dosa topped with a mix of cooked hitikida avarebele, onions, coriander and dill leaves. Its prepared with an easy, no cook avarekalu masala. I bought a kg of hitikida avarekalu to try this dosa, akki roti, uppittu and saaru at home. Recently I posted avarekalu uppittu and avarekalu usli recipe in my blog. In continuation, here is the avarekalu dosa recipe based on the one I tasted in the food festival. For variations, you can sprinkle spicy idli podi / chutney pudi over the dosa and then top it with avarekalu masala. Drizzle lots of oil or ghee for best taste. Ok, Lets see how to make avarekalu dosa with step by step pictures.

Drizzle oil all over the dosa. Flip and cook in low to medium flame till onion turns golden brown.

Remove the dosa and serve with coconut chutney, tomato chutney or hitikidabele saru.

METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES

To make hitikida avarekalu, wash and soak whole avarekalu (field beans) in water for 3 to 4 hours. Take one soaked avarekalu and press it between your forefinger and thumb finger. Squeeze it to remove the outer skin. You will get hitkida avarekalu (squeezed field beans). Repeat and get it done. If you have store bought hitikida avarekalu, you can proceed to next step directly.

Wash and take 1 cup of hitkavare in a pressure cooker. Add some water to cover it. Just pressure cook it in high flame for just one whistle. Do not over cook it. Open the cooker after the steam is released. Drain the excess water. Set aside.

Heat a dosa pan. Sprinkle some water to check the heat of pan. Lower the flame. Wipe the dosa pan with a cloth. Pour a ladleful of batter, spread it slightly.

Let the flame be low to medium. You can see bubbles forming all over the dosa. When the dosa is 3/4 th cooked, spread few tsp of avarekalu masala over the dosa.

Pour few tsp of oil all over the dosa and sides. Press the masala with the dosa flipper for the topping to stud in the dosa. Now flip the dosa carefully. Keep the flame medium high. Pour some oil in the corners if you like. Let the bottom of dosa becomes golden brown. Do not cook in high flame. Masala may get burnt.

Now remove the dosa in a plate. Serve it hot with chutney or sambar/ saaru. You will love it. For variations, you can drizzle some ghee or keep a small block of butter for kids while serving.

In some shops, they sprinkle spicy chutney podi over the dosa and then they top it with masala. You can try that way too. You can use idli podi or peanut podi for that. Tastes awesome !
Enjoy !

Note

Pressing avarekalu is the only time consuming job here else you can make this masala quickly as this is a no cook recipe.

You can use the same masala and make avarekalu stuffed idli too.

Adjust the quantity of green chilli as per your need.

I made it less spicy. As mentioned above, you can sprinkle some idli podi or chutney podi before topping with masala.

November 30, 2018

I always pack dosa varieties for Raksha’s lunch box and travel as it is her most favorite food. Usually I add poha / pressed rice or leftover cooked rice to make soft dosa that stays good for long time. Recently I came across this soft dosa batter recipe using raw rice (pacharisi in Tamil) and urad dal in Mallika Badrinath’s cook book. This recipe is without poha/aval, sabudana/javvarisi/sago or curd. Even though it looks similar to set dosa, ingredients of this soft dosa recipe is different from sponge dosa and set dosa. Its a very simple dosa recipe without using idli rice. You can also call it as raw rice dosa or pacharisi dosai. It can be prepared during Navratri and other fasting days to offer God. You can grind the batter in mixie or grinder as you wish. When I was young, my mom used to pack dosa and podi for school and college lunch box. She doesn’t even smear idli podi over the dosa to keep it soft. My mom just adds a tsp of sesame oil over the dosa. Still dosa stays soft and good till lunch time. When I tried this recipe, I reminded my mom’s dosa. Friends, if you want to pack this dosa for travel or lunch box, just follow the tips I have shared in this post. I am sure it will stay soft for hours. For variations, you can make it small in size, top this dosa with finely chopped onion, mixed vegetables or even add cheese if making for kids. If you like you can stuff it with potato masala as well. Ok, lets see how to make soft dosa batter at home with step by step pictures.

Wash and soak raw rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds in a bowl for 3 to 4 hours.

Grind to a smooth batter in a mixie or grinder. Transfer to a bowl.

Let it ferment overnight. Batter will rise. The next morning, add salt and mix well.

Make thick dosa. Drizzle oil over the dosa and cook one side.

Flip it and cook the other side. Sprinkle few drops of water over the dosa to make it soft. Remove and keep it in a plate.

Make the second dosa in the same way and stack it. Cover with a plate.

Pack in a lunch box or for travel after dosa becomes warm.

Serve with idli podi or any chutney.

METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES

Wash and soak raw rice/ Pacharisi, Urad dal, Fenugreek seeds together for 4 hours. Grind to a smooth batter using grinder or mixie in batches. (Use ice cold water for grinding if using mixie). No need to add salt. Collect the batter in a bowl.

Let it ferment over night or for 12 hours (timings vary during winter season). Batter will rise. The next morning, add the required salt, mix well. If the batter is too thick, add little water to bring dosa batter consistency.

Heat a dosa pan and sprinkle some water. It should sound ssshh. Then lower the flame completely and wipe the dosa pan with a cloth. Now pour a ladleful of batter. Spread it slightly and make thick or medium thick dosa as you like.

Now increase the flame to medium. Bubbles will appear all over the dosa. Then drizzle a tsp of oil around the dosa and cook for a minute.

Flip the dosa and cook the other side. Before removing the dosa from the pan, sprinkle few drops of water all over the dosa. It helps to keep the dosa for long time.

Remove the dosa from the pan and keep it on a plate or banana leaf. Make the other dosa in the same way. Stack all the dosa one over the other if you are packing for travel or lunch box. Cover with a plate to prevent drying.

Enjoy eating hot immediately OR You can pack the dosa and idli podi/chutney in separate boxes. You can also smear idli podi mixed with oil all over the dosa and pack in a box. I tried making crispy, thin dosa too. It came out well.

Enjoy !

Note

Methi seeds is optional. But I used it for nice flavor.

You can soak rice and dal separately. Grind them separately and mix both the batter.

Cooking soda is not needed.

If you are consuming the dosa immediately, you don’t have to sprinkle water over the dosa while cooking.

September 19, 2018

When we have leftover cooked rice from lunch, most of the ladies eat at night, make curd rice or soak in water and have it the next morning ( pazhaya sadam) for breakfast which is considered to be the most healthy South Indian food. But there may be some fasting / vrat days when we should not eat leftover rice. On those days, we hit our head to use it effectively by making idli, dosa or any other Indian style leftover cooked rice recipes to make our family members consume it without complaints. This Instant dosa recipe with leftover cooked rice is one such recipe. You can call it as Pazhaya sadam dosai in Tamil. This dosa can be prepared instantly with some 30 minutes resting time. I have already tried this dosa recipe after watching some YouTube videos. But it did not come out to my expectation. Sendhil did not like it at all. He told its like soft godhumai dosai/ wheat flour dosa and felt there is some problem in the ratio of ingredients. So next time I altered the ingredients as per my family’s taste and came up with this recipe. It came out crispy in corners, Soft in the middle, golden and flavorful too. Sendhil had it without any objection. What else, this shows the success of this recipe, isn’t it ?? :P. As this is an instant dosa recipe, please do not avoid cooking soda and curd. Just follow the same recipe for the first time. Then you can alter the quantity of ingredients as per your taste. Lets see how to make use of the leftover cooked rice with this instant dosa recipe.

COOKED RICE DOSA - STEP BY STEP PICTURES

In a big sized mixie jar, take the leftover cooked rice, rice flour, wheat flour, curd, salt and baking soda. Add the required water ( I washed the curd bowl and added that water.So water looks white). Grind to a smooth paste.

Transfer the batter to a bowl. The consistency of batter should be like our regular dosa batter. Do not make it watery. Add semolina / upma rava and mix well.

Let the batter rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Check for the consistency and add very little water if needed. Heat dosa pan. Spread a ladleful of batter to thin or thick dosa by keeping the flame low. After spreading the dosa, increase the flame to medium. Drizzle oil and cover the dosa with a lid.

Cook till the bottom of dosa turns golden brown. Color of this dosa depends on the quantity of wheat flour. Also This dosa takes slightly more time to cook than our regular dosa as we have added semolina/rava. So cook it patiently. Do not burn it. Adjust the flame accordingly.

Do not flip the dosa. Fold and remove in a plate. Serve hot for best taste with your favorite chutney and sambar.

Note

If you like to add more wheat flour, you can add upto 1/2 cup. Similarly you can add less wheat flour too ( say 1/4 cup).

Resting time for the batter is mandatory else dosa may not come out from the tawa and it doesn’t taste crispy. It may come out hard and chewy.

Never skip baking soda. It is a must to give softness to the dosa as its an instant dosa. You can use cooking soda / samayal soda as well.

Do not add rava while grinding. You should add only after grinding the batter. You can also add baking soda after grinding the batter.

The consistency of dosa batter should be thick but spreadable. Do not make it too thin or thick.

For variations you can add finely chopped onion, green chilli, ginger, curry leaves and coriander leaves. Make it thick like uthappam.

July 18, 2018

I learnt this mint, coriander leaves, curry leaves dosa recipe (Pudina, kothamalli, karuveppilai dosai in Tamil) from my friend Shalini. She calls it as “Green Dosa”. Shalini has been telling me for long time to try this healthy dosa recipe and post here. But somehow I couldn’t do it. Last week when I bought a fresh bunch of mint and coriander leaves, I remembered about this dosa recipe and tried it without further delay. It came out really well. Color, taste and flavor of this dosa was awesome. Raksha and Sendhil liked it very much. I had a great satisfaction of including mint, coriander leaves and curry leaves in our diet. Many people doesn’t like to eat curry leaves and coriander leaves added in their food. They remove and keep it in a corner of the plate. For those people, this dosa is a good way to include these greens. It tastes like our regular crispy dosa but looks green and smells more flavorful. Friends, do try this yummy green dosa at home and share your feedback with me. I will try to share some interesting and healthy dosa varieties in upcoming weeks. Stay tuned !

Wash mint leaves, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Take them in a mixie jar. Add green chilli, ginger, turmeric powder, salt. Grind to a smooth paste adding enough water. ( If you are using a grinder, you can grind rice and dal mixture. Grind the leaves and chilli separately in a mixie jar and add to the grinder along with rice. )

To this paste, add the soaked rice, dal. Grind to smooth batter in 2 batches adding required water. Consistency of batter should be like regular dosa batter. Not too thin or thick.

Transfer the batter to a bowl. Cover it with a lid. Ferment overnight or 12 hours for the batter to raise well. Suppose If you grind the batter in the morning around 10am, you can make the dosa for dinner around 7pm. It tastes good too. But overnight fermentation gives a nice flavor to the dosa.

After fermentation, mix the batter well. Heat dosa pan. Pour one ladleful of dosa batter and make thin or thick dosa as you like. Drizzle a tsp of oil over the dosa. Cook both sides till golden. Remove in a plate.

February 23, 2018

Generally South Indians, Tamil people make onion uttapam at least once in a week with leftoverIdli, dosa batter. Sendhil likes to eat onion uthappam or rava dosa in hotels and restaurants whereas my choice is always plain uthappam with varieties of side dishes. I love its soft and spongy texture.I have already shared few uthappam varieties like tomato onion uthappam , Kadai onion uthappam(my MIL’s style)and Podi uthappam in my space. But this is the basic version of onion uttapam using big onions. We call it as Vengaya dosai in Tamil. Mostly I make it for breakfast during week days as I don’t have to prepare any side dish for this. Sendhil loves to eat it as such if the onions are browned perfectly. For variations and to make it more colorful, sometimes I use small onions, finely chopped green chillies, coriander leaves or grated carrot. If you want to make any side dish for onion uthappam, you can try coconut chutney, tomato chutney or idli sambar. Uthappam tastes the best and comes out soft, spongy with crispy edges only if you make it with fresh, thick idli batter.Do not add water to the thick If the batter becomes watery, uttapam becomes flat. So to make soft and spongy uthappam, mix the fermented idli batter till half way through on the first day for making idli. By doing this way, soft urad dal batter gets mixed with rice batter evenly and helps to prepare soft idli dosa on the first day, soft uthappam on the second, third day too. For making crispy dosa, remove the required batter in another bowl, add very little water to it. Mix well and spread thin dosa. Ok, lets see how to make onion uttapam recipe with step by step pictures.

December 12, 2017

I watched this red rice, Adamant creeper dosa recipe (Sigappu arisi pirandai dosai in Tamil) in Jaya TV’s arusuvai neram by Mrs. Mallika Badrinath. She shared this healthy sivappu arisi dosai adding pirandai. Recently my MIL had given some pirandai ( also known as bonesetter) from our backyard garden to make thuvaiyal. As I had some red rice and pirandai in stock, I tried this dosa immediately. Addition of pirandai helps to give more softness to the dosa. So I changed the ratio of red rice & urad dal as per my taste. It came out very well. We had a satisfaction of including a healthy food for our breakfast and dinner. I had already shared Kerala red rice idli, dosa recipe in my website. This red rice dosa is completely different from that recipe on ingredients and method.I have also shared the picture of red rice used in this recipe. Ok, lets see how to make red rice dosa recipe / Sigappu arisi dosai adding pirandai with step by step pictures.

Ferment overnight or for 12 hours. The next day, mix dosa batter well.

Add some water if needed. Make dosa thin or thick. Serve with chutney or sambar !

METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES

Wash and soak red rice, urad dal, methi seeds together in enough water for 5 hours. Take the pirandai and clean it.

Grease your hands with sesame oil. Wash the pirandai and chop the head & tail part. Remove the ridge like part using a peeler or knife. Remove the fiber portion too. Chop into small pieces and set aside.

Grind pirandai pieces to a coarse paste without water. Add this paste to rice while grinding.

The next morning, batter would have raised slightly. Mix it well and add some water if needed. Consistency of this batter should be like our regular dosa batter. (Sorry I mixxed these pictures. I will try to update these steps with picture soon.)

Heat dosa tawa and sprinkle some water to check the heat of tawa. Water droplets should evaporate immediately. Wipe with a cloth or tissue. Spread 1.5 ladle of red rice dosa batter thin or thick as you like. Drizzle 1tsp sesame oil all over the dosa. Flip the dosa and cook the other side. Remove and serve hot with chutney or sambar. Enjoy !

Note

If you don’t have adamant creeper/pirandai in hand, you can use red rice & urad dal in 4:1 ratio.

Fermentation is mandatory for this dosa batter else it will smell raw.

Do not worry if the batter is not raised well. Just check whether batter has got sour smell / Pulippu vasanai the next day morning.

You can increase the quantity of urad dal to 1/2 cup +2 tbsp to get softer dosa.

Try & enjoy this healthy red rice dosa with pirandai. I served it with easy tomato thokku and raw onion chutney !

November 21, 2017

Vazhaithandu masala dosa – When we saw this dosa recipe in Salem Saravana Bhavan Hotel menu, Sendhil ordered it immediately. Salem Saravana bhavan restaurant has become our must visit place during Salem trip. Raksha loves their Ghee roast very much. We too like their varieties of dinner recipes with millets. So every time we visit there, we try to order some new and interesting dish. I too have a habit of trying the same at home. I had already tried and shared their Vazhaipoo dosa/ Banana flower dosa recipe recently. This morning I tried valaithandu masala dosa for our breakfast. This masala recipe is very similar to our South Indian style kurma but thick in consistency. I won’t say this banana stem stuffing tasted exactly like hotel recipe but it was close to it. Sendhil liked it a lot. We felt this dosa is one of the best way to consume banana stem for people who doesn’t like to eat vazhaithandu or vazhaipoo in the form of poriyal or kootu. Ladies, do try it for your husband even if he is a hater of banana stem. I am sure he will like the uniqueness and taste of this recipe. Ok, lets see how to make Vazhaithandu masala dosa / Banana stem dosa at home with step by step pictures.

Saute till raw smell goes off. Add very little water and pressure cook in high flame for 2 whistles.

Remove the lid after steam is released. Mix well and boil if there is any excess water.

Make the masala thick and spreadable. Keep aside.

Now make thin dosa. After its cooked 3/4th on one side, spread the masala and drizzle oil / ghee around the dosa. Cook for a minute till dosa turns golden in the bottom. Fold the dosa and serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato chutney !

METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES

Wash and slice the banana stem into thin rings.Discard the thread like portion that comes while slicing the banana stem. Chop the rings finely and keep them immersed in buttermilk( to avoid discoloration) or water. Chop the onion finely and set aside.

Heat oil in a cooker base.Saute finely chopped onion and finely chopped banana stem till it turns soft. You can add some salt to quicken the process. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add very little water say 3 tbsp and mix well. Pressure cook in high flame for 2 whistles. Remove after the steam is released. Mix well and boil if there is excess water. Make thick masala. You can sprinkle some lemon juice if you like. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and keep the masala ready.

Take 2 cups of dosa batter. Dilute it slightly if the batter is too thick. Heat dosa pan. Spread the dosa batter and make it thin. When the top of dosa is 3/4th cooked, spread 2 tbsp of masala in the center of dosa.

Drizzle two tsp of oil around the dosa. Cook till the bottom of dosa turns golden. Fold the dosa and remove. Serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato chutney. Enjoy !

Note

Adjust the quantity of green chilli as per your taste.

You can also use red chilli powder instead of green chillies.

You should chop the banana stem very fine else it would be difficult to eat. Actually I couldn’t chop it fine like hotel.

You can use any dosa batter. I used my idlirava idli batter and made dosa with it.